The Card Game
by LexicalPalaver
Summary: Piper and London never expected to fall asleep on the train on the way to film a movie for a school project, but sometimes a little surprise now and then is good, right? But can they survive Gotham? Especially with a wide-smiled anarchist close at their heels? One thing is for sure, and that's that nothing will go the way anyone will expect it to.
1. Train Spotting

**Hi! This is my first fanfiction on this website, and I hope you like it! **

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own the Batman movies, comics, or anything like that. I write strictly for entertainment purposes and am in no way affiliated with DC comics and Time Warner. Any constructive criticism is deeply appreciated, thanks for reading!**

Piper Wrenski could hardly describe herself as someone who would up and leave her hometown with her friend in the middle of the summer, for the sake of doing something they were specifically told not to do. Doing _this_ much for a school project wasn't really her thing. She could not really claim that something like this was representative of her character as a whole, but, then again, John Wilkes Booth could not claim that sneaking into theaters and shooting presidents wasn't like him at all. Unfortunately, people are usually judged by things that they themselves didn't intend to happen in the first place. It was a 'spur of the moment' thing. Why did she decide to follow her admittedly irresponsible friend onto a train that was headed out of state? And for a small, frivolous summer video production project. How was she supposed to find an answer to that? She just _did_ it. She was pretty sure that was the same answer she was going to get out of London when she asked why _she_ decided to get onto the train in the first place. Maybe they were both just tired of being at the right place at the right time.

She had a nice three story with her mum in a small, safe neighborhood in a small, safe town in the, dare she say, richest state in America. Every week day, she went to her town's blue ribbon public middle school on a yellow bus. The classes were boring, save for the abnormal interruption in her schedule, but she had a lot of friends that made up for that, London being just one of them. She had good grades, always falling in the A or B+ range. Pretty much everything a 13 year old could want. Except a dog. She wanted a dog, but her mum wouldn't hear any of it.

When the two girls had boarded the train it was very crowded. They were forced to stand in the isle, clinging to a metal pole to stop themselves from falling onto the people they were wedged between every time the train stopped and started. The metal poles absorbed the heat of the hot summer sun that shone through the windows. Piper used the sleeves of her red hoodie to grip the pole, not wanting to get burnt by the blisteringly hot metal. There was no plan- but both girls silently came to the conclusion that they would ride the train until the last stop, get off and shoot some practical footage, then catch a taxi home. What they didn't think about, however, was the slight possibility that they would both get a seat after the second stop, and fall asleep.

Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened.

Piper awoke to the pitter patter of rain hitting the train windows. She lifted her head off her shoulder, easing out the cricks in her neck and uncurling her fingers. The train car was dark, the only source of light was the low glow of the fluorescent lights that were strung up on the ceiling. After squinting her eyes and looking around, Piper came to the conclusion that besides her and London (who was still asleep) the train car was **completely** empty. The blue plastic benches that were once cram packed full of people were now devoid of any human life. The once hot to the touch metal poles were a stinging cold, and the seats weren't that much better. The sun that had shone through the windows had disappeared, instead replaced with a moonless night sky filled to the brim with dark clouds and rain. Her jaw clamped shut, Piper looked to her right. London was still sleeping, her head leaning against the window. Piper hesitantly poked her on the shoulder, and, receiving no sign that London was awake, flicked the older girl in the head. She awoke with a start, her head snapping forward. Her blue eyes took a while to adjust to the now very dim train car.

"What?" She asked.

"We fell asleep," Piper explained, shivering from the chilled state of the train car. Her thin red hoodie wasn't doing much for her now, she had after all, dressed for summer. "We should probably-" _**CRASH**_

Piper was cut off by a horrible scraping noise as the train came to an abrupt screeching halt. Lurching forward in her seat, she grasped a hold of the arm rest to steady herself, the inertia of the train pulling her forward.

"What. Was. That," London said, her eyes wide and breathing heavily, holding her arm in front of her red and black backpack to keep it from falling off the seat next to her. Piper shook her head, curious as to why the train had emergency stopped, but simultaneously not wanting to know. Being alone left her on edge. Where were they anyway? Loud footsteps coming from the next train car over interrupted her thoughts.

"Wha-" Piper's question was cut off when London lifted a shaking finger to her lips, signalling to be quiet. Piper gritted her teeth together. London pointed to herself and Piper, then directed her finger to the space in between the seats and the floor in corner of the train car. Piper nodded. There was probably no reason to hide, and they would end up looking like idiots, but better safe than sorry, right?

Accompanied by the accelerating rush of adrenaline, it took both girls a matter of seconds to situate themselves under the rather low plastic bench in the far corner of the train. It was too late to move when they realized they had both left their backpacks in plain sight. They both jumped when the train car door suddenly swung open, hitting the wall with a solid _thwack_. The sound of rain, thunder, and the clicking of the tracks were immediately silenced when the door was quickly slammed shut again. From where they were crouching, Piper and London could only see up to the knees of the three men that had walked into the 'empty' train car. Two of the men lumbered in with a heavy step, the ends of their jeans torn and caked with mud. The third man was wearing a battered pair of brown dress shoes and dark purple slacks. When he stepped forward the hem of his trousers lifted slightly revealing very colorful argyle socks. These were definitely _not_ train attendees.

"_Now, _uh… What's your name again?" Piper assumed it was the man wearing purple trousers speaking.

"It's- it's Dan," One of the men wearing normal trousers visibly stuttered, his legs stiffened until his knees weren't bent at all.

"Ohhh, _right, _Danni, what did I tell you about being observant- _ah?" _Purple Trousers said, his voice jumping from low to high octaves, like he couldn't decide how he liked his voice better.

"That it's- it's… Good?" The man answered, obviously confused and unable to answer the simple question.

"Oh, _Danni, _don't you _ever _listen- _ah? _I _said," _Purple Trousers paused, clearing his throat and tapping his shoe on the ground vigorously. "I told you to, uh, make sure car five was empty, _right?"_

"Y-yeah,"

"And what car are we, uh, _currently_, in?"

"Uh… Five, yeah, number five,"

"_Good_, what did I _say_ about car five again?"

"You said to make sure no one's in it?"

"BINGO! Congratulations, Danni, you've won the big prize!" Purple Trousers shouted, his booming voice shaking the cart. "_But_," His voice immediately became serious, his laughing stopped. "_These," _Piper saw two purple gloved hands reach down and lift up their heavy bags without so much as a strain. "Don't look like nothing to me- _ah," _Piper and London held their breaths- he had noticed their bags.

"Boss, they might've been left by the people we got out earlier," One of the men said desperately. What? Piper strained her neck to hear their words. If they got everyone out of the cart from earlier, why didn't they move _them_?

"I. Don't. _Care_," Purple Trousers growled, his voice alternating to an almost animalistic gnarl. "Just look through 'em, make sure there's no surprises or anything,"

"Yeah boss," The two men took the bags from Purple Trousers and started sifting through the girl's things. Piper held her breath. _Please don't take anything. _The men discovered nothing but spare jackets, phone chargers, one or two books, some cash, (which they pocketed, damn them) a camcorder (for the video production project) and a few snacks. Piper had to force herself not to breath a sigh of relief and alert them of her presence when she remembered her phone was in her hoodie pocket and not in her bag. She regrets to admit that her life was on that phone.

"Don't eat that _now!" _Purple Trousers had growled and slapped the granola bar out of one of the man's hands when he tried to take a bite out of it. Ha. Serves him right.

After a few minutes, the men finished invading Piper and London's privacy and dumped the bags back on the floor. They winced when the camcorder hit the ground at an angle. London cast a sideways glance at Piper, who was glaring angrily at them. "_So, _ahem, hehehehe," The man giggled and balanced on his heels for a few moments excitedly. Piper glanced at London. London shrugged. "Are the, uh, _bombs_, ready?" Purple Trousers asked happily.

Wait…

_**WHAT?!**_

_**BOMBS?!**_

"Yeah boss, as soon as you hit the button, this train'll be history,"

"Perfect- _ah,"_

"We should… Probably get off before you press the button, though, y'know, so we're not… yeah…" That man trailed off, and Piper could only assume Purple Trousers was glaring at him.

"I'm not an _idiot, _Danni," He turned, much to Piper and London's horror, towards them. "Unlike, _some_ people," Before she knew it, Piper was pulled out from under the bench by her ankle. She looked over at London frantically, only to see she had also been discovered. Piper looked up at the man that had discovered them -Purple Trousers- only then she wish she hadn't. His hair was a dirty green and his face was covered in garish face paint, his eyes ringed in black, making his already dark brown eyes seem darker. He had scars on either side of his mouth, giving him a permanent smile. The already prominent scars were traced up the sides of his face with… red lipstick? The other men weren't much worse, both wearing terrifying clown masks. Piper _hated_ clowns.

"You look nervous, is it the scars?" The man grinned, revealing stained teeth. He pulled a knife that resembled a potato peeler out of his purple trench coat pocket and held to Piper's face. "Wanna know how I got 'em?"

"Oh shit," Piper heard London whisper.


	2. Get Off the Train

**So we meet again ;)**

**I don't own Batman movies/ comics, I write only for entertainment purposes and so on. Thanks for reading! Constructive criticism and reviews are appreciated! **

How on earth did this happen again? Oh yes, she fell asleep on a train. That's a perfectly good explanation as to why she's now kneeling on the ground of a train car with three clowns pointing various assortment of weapons at her and her friend. She was trying to wriggle out of the clown's grip without him noticing while simultaneously trying not to breath in his breath. Yes, Piper was in quite the predicament.

The man grinned, crouching over her and still holding the knife to her face, his free hand gripping a hand full of her black hair. Piper didn't dare use her hands to swipe the blade away, instead she reached up and clamped a hand to her head, trying to relive the strenuous pressure of having it pulled back. Glancing back at her friend, Piper saw the two other men pointing machine guns at her, making sure she stayed put.

"A' _tatatatata_," The man said, roughly pulling Piper's hair to face him. "It isn't _polite_, not to look me in the eye- _ah,"_

Wait a second- Piper could swear she recognized him from somewhere.

He laughed her uncomfortableness. "_Now_, back to the story_," _he tapped the bizarre looking knife under her eye. "I was, uh, about _your_ age, when my friends and I decided to take the _train_ through the _narrows_," he cleared his throat and licked his lips before continuing. "Not the _best_ idea, I _know, _but I was looking for a little, uh, _action. _We were almost at our destination- _ah, _when a group of no good _thugs, _decide to pay me and my friends a little visit- _ah," _His voice got louder and he started pronouncing each letter more clearly. Piper couldn't stop herself from shaking. "When I wouldn't give them my money, one've them stuck a _knife_, like _this," _he waved his knife around in the air carelessly, succeeding in making her even more nervous. "In my _mouth_, and said, '_why so serious- ah?' _and _then_, he-"

"Boss, we got a problem-" One of the men that had been pointing a gun at London had left the train cart to answer his phone, but when he came back and interrupted face-paint man, he got one right between the eyes. The unmistakable, loud noise of the gun ricocheted off the walls of the cylindrical trail car, the sound ringing in Piper's ears. She hadn't even noticed the man had a pistol, even though now that she thought about it she was sure that he probably the kind of man that had _many_ other weapons on him.

"Didn't _anyone_ ever tell you it's rude to interrupt- _ah?" _The man sighed, let go of Piper's hair, stood up, and stepped back. She instantly recoiled until her back was pressed uncomfortably against the bench. The man rolled his eyes and licked his lips. "_Now_, Danni, what do you think that _problem_ was?" The last clown goon standing, too afraid to tell his boss the one he just shot was Dan, shrugged and kept his gun pointed at both girls. The man wearing purple observed him from beneath his brow and sighed. "_What_ do you think they're gonna do, Danni? Blow your head off?" He cackled. "How old are you? Ten?" He directed the question towards London, who was trying not to breathe too loudly. "_Well?_" He said when she didn't answer straight away.

"...Thirteen,"

"_Oh_, well in that case, keep your gun on'em Danni," The man laughed and walked towards the window, expecting the moving scenery, or rather lack of, since it was too dark to see and still raining. The girls hadn't even noticed the train had started moving again. Suddenly, there was a loud _**bang**_, and the ceiling concaved a bit. The girls gasped and jumped in fright. The henchmen jumped and lifted his gun towards the ceiling.

"Was that-"

The clown giggled, jumping up and down whilst clapping his purple gloved hands.

"The _Bat Man_,"

Before they knew it, they were being dragged out of the train car. Their bags slung across their shoulders, the girls stood in front of the only remaining clown mask wearing goon who had a tight grasp on both of their shoulders. It was so dark Piper and London couldn't see two feet in front of themselves. And to make matters even better, they were all being pelted with huge, cold drops of rain. All four of them were standing in the rather small area outside between train car number four and five. Piper held her breath when she looked down and saw the ground moving fast just a foot below the small rickety platform she was trusting to hold her weight.

"Get off the train, take 'em back to the truck, and don't let them _go_," The green haired man explained curtly before scampering on the roof of the train and jumping over their heads. The goon waited until his boss was gone and then shoved Piper and London through the door of the next train cart.

"You heard him, move," was all he said. Not wanting to get shot multiple times in the back with a machine gun, Piper and London reluctantly obliged to his orders and stomped through the cart.

The next four carts were completely empty, save for the few box- shaped objects filled with multicolored wires Piper assumed to be the bombs. At one point the three of them heard multiple gunshots from the roof over the click clack of the moving train. The goon recovered after a few moments and shoved the girls forward again. In no time, they were in the control room of the train. Only there was no one _there._

"What?! Who's driving the train?!" London exclaimed frantically. The goon ignored the question, instead, roughly pulling down a lever, causing the door to open. The bellowing wind and pelting rain flew through the open door and into the dim control room. Piper and London both grabbed ahold of the driver's seat, trying to comfort themselves. Piper squinted her eyes, trying to prevent the relentless rain from hitting her in the eyes. She peered into the darkness of the open door. If they fell out that door at a wrong angle, they were gonners. The goon turned towards them, his clown mask even more macabre amidst the howling wind and rain.

"Try to roll, boss would kill me if you got broken legs," the goon shouted over the storm.

"What? What are you-" London unable to finish before the thug grabbed her waist and up and threw her out the door. Piper came tumbling after her.


	3. Invisible

**Hello! Chapter 3 is here! I don't own Batman, only London and Piper. Thanks for reading!**

London's head connected with the ground. She rolled a few times, her neck arched from trying to keep her head from hitting the ground again. Finally coming to a halt, she lay face down in the mud for a few moments, groaning. She could feel the rain hitting her hard in the back of her head, her short brown hair soaked and sticking to her face. Turning her head slowly, she observed that her backpack was sitting in a puddle of muddy water a few feet away. She tried to sit up, but quickly fell back down when stars exploded across her vision. She could feel her laggard heartbeat in her fingertips, and her head was pulsing. She was only slightly aware when someone picked her up and threw her over their shoulder, although the sudden movement caused her to openly cringe. She turned her head slightly, only to catch a glimpse of the train erupting into flames, a strong gust of wind making her wet hair fly out of her face. The red of the fiery explosion contrasted with the darkness of the night sky, pieces of interior visibly flying into the sky before plummeting back down heavily. Then she let the darkness overtake her.

Turning away from the now obliterated train, her jaw firmly locked in place, Piper watched as they approached a large truck. She was caked with mud head to toe from landing in a muddy puddle after being thrown out of the train. London hadn't been so lucky, landing hard on the compacted earth, knocking her unconscious. Now Piper was carrying both of their bags, one on each shoulder as the clown hauled London and dragged her by the forearm. Inspecting the truck, she thought it might have been white at one point, but it was now a dirty creme color from being left out to decay for so long. The huge eighteen- wheeler had a carousel and a circus tent painted on one side, with the words 'Hyams' and 'Laughter is the Best Medicine' printed next to it. The clown slid open the large, rickety sliding door on the side of the semi trailer. Reluctantly, Piper clambered into the truck with a machine gun at her back. Their bags and London were thrown in a moment later, the door sliding shut shortly afterwards.

"London, are you ok?" No answer. "Hey, wake up!" Piper shook her.

"Wha- what? Ugh my head!" London's eyes opened slowly, and then pressed on her temples. "Jeez, you're feeling sympathetic today, aren't ya?" she added, squeezing her eyes shut.

"We have to escape," Piper whispered, keeping her voice low so the goon sitting in the driver's seat couldn't hear their conversation. London opened her eyes and sat up slowly, taking in her surroundings. The trailer was relatively empty, save for a few wooden crates and two or three old looking duffle bags in the corner. The only light was coming from the yellow glow of a lantern in the front of the truck. She could still hear the pounding of rain falling around them outside, and a small puddle was forming in the middle of the truck from a leak in the ceiling. Piper pointed towards the sliding door. It was open a crack, but not enough to let in any rain. However the cold air managed to seep through, making the already soaked girls shiver. Piper slowly inched her way on her hands and knees to the opening, looking over her shoulder every few moments to make sure the clown hadn't seen her. She reached over to the door, wedging her involuntarily shaking fingers between the two rusty pieces of metal.

She froze. Something wasn't right. Her heart began hammering in her chest at one hundred miles per hour, her neck stiffened and there was a sudden ringing in her ears. The hair on her arms and the back of her neck stood up from the sudden bloom of cold that spread across her skin like wild fire. Without turning her head, she slowly willed her eyes to look over at London, who looked like she was experiencing the same thing.

With one beat of her rapid pulse, everything turned white. The inside of the truck had an eerie grey glow, and her vision was clouded as if she was looking through a frosted glass. Piper turned to London, who was looking around frantically.

"What's going on?!" London gasped, picking herself off the ground. She shook her head. "My headaches gone," She said, confused.

"I have no idea," Piper answered, looking around. "Do you think we were drugged?"

"Drugged? I don't know, didn't see any- quick! Hide!" London's confused voice lowered to a shaky whisper as she dragged Piper behind one of the wooden crates. "The clown guy's still in the front seat," she explained shakily. When they didn't hear any sort of ruckus a few moments later, the girls peered out from behind the crate. The goon hadn't seemed to have noticed the commotion in the back of the truck, and was still in his original position, reclined lazily in the driver's seat. This changed when his eyes caught sight of the cracked rear view mirror.

"Shit!" He jumped out of his seat abruptly and scrambled over the armrest to the inside of the semi trailer. For some reason, his image distorted when he moved quickly, like he was in an old misty videotape. _This is it _Piper thought._I'm going to die._The goon hadn't seen them hiding behind the crate, and was desperately trying to find the two girls his boss had specifically told him 'not to let _go_'. Piper and London awaited their impending doom from behind the crate, still surrounded by the strange grey glow. Only the doom didn't come. The goon didn't even see them, even though he looked _straight_at them.

"Where are they?!" He shouted, throwing a duffle bag across the truck. Piper and London looked at each other with wide eyes. He hadn't _seen_them? Was he _blind_? They were right there in front of him in_plain sight_. Piper slowed her breathing, her clenched fists uncurling. He hadn't seen them?

Suddenly, a heavy heartbeat in her chest shook her whole body, and she lurched forward, her eyes squeezed shut.

"There you are!" She heard the goon holler. "Wait- where's the other one?!" Piper opened her eyes. Everything was back to it's usual, non-glowing tangible state. The clown's image didn't distort when he moved. Processing his words, Piper turned her head and looked behind her. London was _gone. _Well, thats what she thought until there was a horribly shrill popping noise and the once vacant space was occupied with her friend once more.

"What. The _hell_. Was that?" London said, grabbing her head. "Ugh- my headaches back," The goon froze in the middle of his rampage, his machine gun pointed towards the sky. He looked at them both once before running to the driver's seat, opening the door, and jumping out of the truck.

A few moments later, the sliding door was pulled open yet again, revealing the man that had attempted to tell Piper his terrifying backstory while holding a knife to her face. His green hair was matted and stuck to his face after being relentlessly bombarded with rain. He grinned, his greasepaint running down his face as if it was wax being held to a flame. The goon was standing a few steps behind him, his machine gun raised at the girls in the truck.

"B-boss! They just disappeared! Invisible! What if- what if they're aliens! Holy shit! That's why they weren't on the-" The goon's fear induced ramble was cut short by the green-haired man bursting into a fit of laughter.

"Aliens?! Danni boy, tell me, how _much_of that stuff are you _shooting?!_" He said in between cackles.

"I-I swear! I'm clean! I got no dope on me!"

"_Well _in that case, you must need some glasses then- _ah,"_

"Uh… Yeah, sure," the goon eyed Piper and London suspiciously before lowering his weapon. The clown smirked and quickly cracked his neck before slamming the door shut. The girls could hear the tapping of his shoes' heels scampering around the front of the truck on the cement road from inside. Before the goon could situate himself in the driver's seat, the clown grasped him firmly by the collar and hoisting him out the door before promptly taking his spot.

"Excuse me! _I _wanna drive!" The clown didn't wait for the goon to climb back inside the truck, instead flooring the engine, leaving the man in the middle of the road.


	4. Lock And Key

**So sorry I couldn't get this to you sooner! I'm going to try and get you updates in a more scheduled manner from now on. Sadley I'll be away for most of the summer :( I'll still be writing, but I might not be able to post until August-ish. Piper and London's adventures will prevail! And there will be more Joker in future chapters to come! **

**I don't own Batman, Joker, Gotham, or am in any relation to Warner Bros. I do this strictly for entertainment purposes. Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

The girls thought the clown was just going to drive away and leave the baffled goon in the middle of the road. They were surprised when the truck stopped suddenly, then zoomed backwards towards the man. The truck didn't stop for the goon to get back in. Through the rear view mirror, Piper could see the very serious expression on the clown's face as the wheels rolled over the goon with a sickening _ba-boomph_. Only after jamming the gear stick forward and flooring the gas, the clown started laughing hysterically.

Piper and London were tossed around the semi-trailer relentlessly. They were sure the purple-clad maniac had completely forgotten they were in the back at all. Whenever he suddenly spoke up, both girls looked up, convinced he had noticed them, only to realized he was mumbling something to himself. The truck took a sharp left turn, swerved dangerously and throwing London and Piper across the trailer. The wheels rolled over something and the floor bounced up with a banging noise. Piper could only hope it wasn't a person they had just run over.

After a while, the truck came to an abrupt stop. Piper and London flew forward, both crashing into the pile of crates. The sliding door slid opened.

"Out out _out_," he muttered under his breath, grabbing Piper by the forearm and pulling her head-first out of the truck. London didn't waste any time scrambling out of the truck after her, having just the right amount of time to grab their bags. It was still raining heavily, hindering the girl's sight. The man shook his greasy green hair out of his eyes and dragged the two girls into what looked like a derelict building. It might have been a shipyard once, and Piper was sure she could hear the ocean somewhere in the distance over the pouring rain.

The warehouse was completely empty. The concrete floor was cracked and the atmosphere smelt heavily of fish. The only noticeable thing in the room was the manhole in the center. It's rusted color jutted out like a sore thumb against the algae-stained cement ground. The clown let go of Piper's arm, giving them both both a glare from under his brow before he bent down and quickly heaved the lead cover off of the gaping hole. When neither of them moved, he brought his hands up theatrically, gesturing to the decrepit ladder that lead to god knows where.

"Come o_n-ah_, I don't have all _day_!"

Piper went first. Regrettably. Something inside her backpack stuck out against her side uncomfortably as she climbed down the rusted ladder; the narrow walls of the tunnel she was climbing down preventing her from adjusting the straps on her shoulders. Piper climbed down the ladder as steadily as she could, but it proved a difficult task as to how slippery the rungs of the ladder were. She tried to focus on not slipping rather than how the narrow cement walls of the downward spiraling tunnel seemed to be slowly closing in on her. Luckily, it wasn't long until she reached the bottom. Instead of her foot hitting another ladder step, like she had expected, her black knee-high boots hit solid ground. The pungent smell of sewage and rotting fish hit her like a bus. The smell begun to make her eyes water, so she squinted them shut and tried breathing through her mouth. It did little good considering that she could now taste the smell on her tongue. She heard the clanking of another person descending the ladder and decided to take her brief time along to survey her new surroundings, maybe to find a means of escaping. The room resembled a concrete box. A very small concrete box. Underground. Piper swallowed the nervous lump in her throat. She tried not to think about what had happened to her during the school year of 6th grade. She had abandoned her claustrophobic tendencies a while ago- right? Apparently not. There was a battered wooden door on the wall to her left with what looked like five to six heavy duty locks holding it in place.

**Clang!**

Piper jumped to attention as London stumbled off of the last few ladder rungs, her backpack still slung over her shoulder.

"Jesus Christ-" the clown hopped off the ladder and landed in front of them. He wasted no time grabbing them and dragging them towards the door. Pulling out a string of skeletal looking keys from his purple trench coat pocket, he unlocked the locks methodically and kicked open the door. The girls didn't have much time to inspect what the new room looked like before they were pulled forcefully into the next one. They stopped abruptly in front of yet another wooden door, the inertia of their heavy bags whipping their heads forward.

"Hurry _up_," the man in purple flung open the door. When neither of them moved right away, he threw up both his arms exasperatedly and pushed them both into the room. "Go _on_! Scoot!" He growled, stuffing the girls into the small room like one would cram extra clothes into a packed suitcase. Piper and London fell to the ground, both using their forearms to break their fall. The last thing they heard was the door rattling as it slammed shut, and the ghost of a maniacal cackle.

And just like that, Piper and London were left alone once again.

The first thoughts that flew through Piper's head were 'how to get out of here?!' 'who the hell was he?!' and 'what just happened?!' She leapt up off of the floor and rushed to the door that was only just slammed shut, twisting the rusted doorknob frantically. When she realized it was locked, she started slamming her small, tired body against the door. The hinges didn't even rattle.

"Piper! Stop!" London's voice broke her out of her panicked state.

"We- we need to get out of here!" Piper could feel the blood pounding in her ears. She looked down and saw her hands shaking uncontrollably. London shrunk away from Piper's loud voice, lifting a hand to her head. It still hurt from the fall, and she wouldn't be surprised if she was concussed.

"Nothing is going to get better if you keep doing that," London pointed a shaky to the door. "H-he-he… I think I know who he is…" London breathed out, gritting her teeth as a surge of pain rung through her ears.

"What do you mean?" Piper slumped against the door.

"..." Piper waited patiently for London to catch up to her thoughts. "This will definitely sound completely insane…"

"We were just thrown out o-of a train."

"He's The Joker."

After a few moments of silence, Piper managed to pick up her metaphorical brains that was just splattered onto the floor.

"_What!?_"

"I know, it sounds so crazy but," London sighed, cracking her back and scooting over to the wall to lean up against it. "I really think it's him."

"Lun, I think you might've hit your head a little too hard-"

"What do you want me to do?! Write you an evidence based claim?! Do you want me to list all the supporting details as well?!" London whisper shouted, gaining yet another migraine. Piper paused and thought for a second.

"Ok, ok… So, what if, speaking hypothetically of course, that guy is The Joker? How did he get here?"

"I don't know, but I really don't want to stick around and find out. Have you seen the movie?"

"No." The two girls sat in silence for a few minutes, each catching up to the crazy hypothesis they had just come up with. "It's probably some weird cosplayer who got too into his act. Maybe we're on a reality show? It's not real." Piper purposefully chose to ignore that '_The Joker_' had shot one and run over another of his cronies. And that, was _quite_ real.

Piper stared at the plain wall opposite her, her dark brown eyes glazed over as she thought. What was her mum doing right now? Had she noticed she had gone missing? If she had, did she even care? No. That was a stupid question- of course she did. It was funny that out of everything, she was mostly worried about the first day of highschool, in two months. Why the hell was she worried about that?! They were 50 feet underground god-knows-where and a psychotic clown that might as well be a character from a _Batman movie_ was occupying the same floor. What was wrong with her? Piper decided that she didn't want to be left alone with her thoughts anymore.

"What do we do? " She muttered under her breath, her voice heavy with exhaustion. London remained silent for a little while after, trying to come up with something to say. There was really nothing they could do.

"Our phones!" London said suddenly, seeing their muddy bags lying in a heap in the corner. They wasted no time in moving to the bags, practically ripping the zippers open and sifting through the supplies. A few jackets, phone chargers, books, and some squashed snack bars. London lifted her phone out of her bag triumphantly, while Piper stared in dismay at her phone-less bag.

"My phone was in my pocket when I fell out the train."

"...Oh." London gave Piper a sympathetic look. Her friend's life was on that phone. They both forgot that in a moment when they looked at the battered gadget. The pair lent over the small device in anticipation. Who would they call? The police? Their parents? They didn't even know where they were!

Their hopes plummeted when they saw the number of bars on the upper left hand side of the screen. Or rather lack of. "No signal," London said exasperatedly and set the phone down hardly on the ground.

"What do we do now?" Piper asked, her voice lifeless. London dug around her bag for a few moments, before pulling out the camcorder they were going to film their video production project with. "How will that help us?"

"I don't know, we could try to think of something, though. Right?" London gazed at the camcorder hopefully. It was an old machine that they were borrowing from the video production teacher. The LCD screen was scratched and the hand strap had been replaced a few times, but it was a very durable camera. It had survived a fall from a moving train, after all. London flipped open the LCD screen and turned it on. Because it belonged to the school, it was password activated. London tapped in the code easily, and the device came to life with an enthusiastic '_ding!'_. The room was filled with an eerie blue glow from the bright screen, illuminating the cracks in the wall and the shadows on their faces.

"Well, at least it still works…" Piper said, trying her best to be positive. '_But how on earth is it going to help us get out of this?'_

**Well, I hope that was good enough! Sorry again for the late update! There are some new important plot lines introduced in this chapter. For example, what was the traumatic incident that happened to Piper in 6th grade to make her claustrophobic? PM me if you have any guesses about that! Hehehe… Then, of course, there is The Joker. Yes the Clown/Man In Purple is the Clown Prince of Crime. That wasn't too hard to guess. At all. **_**And**_ **then there's the other stuff. What happened in the truck? Why were the girls invisible? **_**Weeellll**_**, you will find out due time! Any other questions PM me! Constructive criticism and ideas are very welcome!**

**Lex**


	5. The Phantom

**Hi! I'm sorry for making you guys wait this long, I really am. I wrote about half of this literally somewhere in the mountains, surrounded by cows, so there's a strange image for ya! Then I got writer's block (I had to write the last part three times to get it right). Also, the only way I could get wifi was by climbing onto the roof of town hall… So… Hahahaha… And I got back, and wrote some more! I really hope you like it!**

**I don't own Batman, Joker, or anything like that. I only own London and Piper! Constructive criticism always appreciated!**

"How are we going to get out of here when all we've got is a camcorder and a broken cell phone?" Piper buried her face in her hands, knowing it was a very rhetorical question. They had been asking the same one for a few hours, and she was giving up on trying to stay positive. London had turned off the camcorder to preserve battery and placed it in the center of the room like it was some kind of ceremonial sacrifice. With the eerie blue light off, their eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the stone chamber. The room was thin and long, the ceiling rounded like a tunnel. Attached to the ceiling was a rusty metal rack with dangerous looking hooks and spiderwebs hanging from it. In the corner of the room lay what looked like a metal cage, but when they had snuck over to inspect it they deduced that it was probably a very strange wine rack because of the corks littering the floor and the empty bottle in the corner. After a while, the adrenaline wore off and the empty dampness of the air started to get to them. They now sat criss-crossed against the stone wall, shivering with their hoods up and their shaking hands gripping the insides of their sleeves.

"What happened in the truck?" London asked finally. Piper straightened up immediately, remembering the strange occurrence in the semi-truck.

"I have no idea- it was terrifying though."

"They didn't drug us."

"No." Piper paused. "It was weird. Everything had this grey hue, and distorted when it moved or when you looked around."

"Same with me- It was like the Lord of The Rings!" London exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air before quickly bringing them to her temples, attempting to ease the migraine her sudden movement had brought on. "_And _I didn't feel this stupid headache."

"...What?" Piper raised an eyebrow.

"You know, when Frodo puts on the ring, and he goes into that weird dimension in between the living and the dead and he-"

"London, I think you should be at least trying to be serious right now, you've already given me that ridiculous conspiracy about that guy being the _Joker_, I don't think I can live through another one." London looked down, embarrassed that her imagination had gotten the best of her again, only to look back up, eyes bright and flashing a half-fake smile.

"But we could call it a super power, right?"

Piper chose to ignore her.

About half an hour later, they were beginning to feel the first signs of hunger. London's stomach had growled so loudly that Piper had thought the Joker would be convinced there was an elephant in his basement. They had decided to ration the snack bars; they had no idea when (or if) anyone would come down to feed them.

"I'm so hungry." Piper groaned, curling up into a ball and shrinking into the corner, carefully avoiding the spider webs. "And is it me, or is this room getting smaller?" She shuddered at the thought of the walls closing in around her.

"No, it's the same size as before." London said from the center of the room. She was digging through the bags again, trying to find anything useful that they had missed before. Although it was more out of boredom that necessity. She pulled something out of the bag and after bringing it up to her face and inspecting it closely, threw it over to Piper. "Here, get your mind off your empty stomach." The book hit the wall close to Piper's face, and she glared silently at London before picking it up. It was too dark and the writing was too small to read without straining her eyes, but she could see the slightly fuzzy gold cursive of the cover 'The Phantom of The Opera'. It was an old book, the spine was battered and she was pretty sure some pages were missing. She had read it at least one hundred times, never growing tired of the gripping tale Gaston Leroux had written. It surprised her each time how easily Erik tricked the whole Opera House into believing he was a ghost. He was the master ventriloquist, and could throw his voice across the Opera without any effort. He could trick anyone into thinking he was right behind them when he was in fact he was at the opposite end of the building, or vice versa. After flipping through the well loved novel, Piper couldn't help but wonder how if one of them knew ventriloquism, they could use it to their advantage, to escape. Too bad neither of them knew how.

Although London was quite the eccentric at moments, Piper doubted the brown haired girl could trick someone like that. It was during this line of thought that the black haired girl's eyes landed on the camcorder. It was still sitting in the middle of the room, a shiny contrast to the dull, dusty cement floor. She stared at it for a moment, realizing how badly she wanted to give it back to her video production teacher and promptly tell him to 'shove his summer project up his ass.' I mean, look at where it got them. It was like he wanted to distract them from enjoying the summer holiday! Isn't that what summer is for? Relaxing? Taking a break from the strenuous non-stop mental hardships of the school year? Well, not for the people a few hundred years ago who took the summer off to collect the year's harvest- but you get the idea.

Wait a second.

Piper reeled back her thoughts like a fishing line.

Ventriloquism

Camcorder

Destraction

She had an idea.

"So, what's the plan again?" London asked, the confusion evident in her voice. Piper sighed exasperatedly. The plan had sounded better in her head.

"We put the camcorder next to the door, and put it on a timer so it plays an old video of someone shouting when the Joker or one of his goons opens the door. Because of the way the mic on the camera is placed next to the wall, to them, it will sound like someone is behind them. They'll turn around, and we'll have enough time to run past them. Climb the ladder, and boom!" Piper explained for the third time. "We're out!" London nodded.

"I'll look for a loud video, then." London spent the next ten minutes perusing the myriad of video footage the camera had to offer, while Piper packed their bags back up and strategically set them next to the door. The only things they planned on keeping were their jackets (which they were wearing), London's phone, and the remaining snack bars. They had to say goodbye to The Phantom of The Opera, thanking it for the idea before putting it lovingly in one of the backpack pockets.

"Got it!" London exclaimed a few minutes later, turning on the timer and placing the camera by the door hinges. "Now all we need to do is figure out how to get them down here." Piper thought for a minute, weighing their options (which weren't many.)

First she went to the door, knocking lightly. She had to make sure no one was standing right outside. When she didn't get an answer, Piper let out the most blood-curdling scream she could. London's hands immediately flew to her ears, attempting to block out the noise. Piper paused for a moment, the sudden silence bringing on a certain vertigo, as she listened for any movement outside the door. She thought she heard a ghost of a laugh, but shrugged it off before sucking in a large gulp of air and letting out another hair-tearing scream. This time, with her hands still covering her ears, London joined her. It went like this for another minute or so before they heard the unmistakable clatter of footsteps approaching the door. The girls dove to the dark corner of the room just in time, their screams being cut off by the door slamming open.

"Would you shut the hell up!" The clown goon barked, before looking around the room, confused. "What the- where?" He took another step into the room, looking for the captives. Piper's palms started to sweat in anticipation. Was the timer going to work?

Suddenly, there was another scream that sounded out from behind the goon.

"What?! Where are you-" The goon turned around, falling for the decoy camcorder scream. "Gah!" The girls shot out of the room, brushing past the goon who, attempting to chase them, so conveniently tripped on the bags and fell to the ground.

A small, triumphant smile ghosted over London's lips as she took the lead, racing through the hallway. She looked back quickly, and Piper was right behind her. The plan was going to well!

Until she heard the pounding footsteps of the goon chasing after them.

"Hey! Get back here! Joe! Get'm!" Piper only just jumped out of the second goon's grabbing hands. Now there were two very large, lumbering men stampeding after them like a herd of elephants. The only thing keeping the girls a few inches ahead was adrenaline and the pure fear of death. London kicked away an old stool that stood in her path, glancing back again to see Piper running as fast as she could with two fat elephants on her heels. She turned her attention forward again, her eyes set on the door they were pushed through earlier. They were in a short, thin corridor with doors on either side. The enclosedness of the hallway reminded Piper of the fact that they were very deep underground. And there was only on exit- that they knew of. Both of their eyes were on the ground, breathing heavily.

It was then that the heavy footsteps of their pursuers stopped abruptly. London looked over her shoulder, only to see the two goons stopped in their tracks. A look of absolute terror on their faces.

What?

They each took a step back, eyes wide. What were they so afraid of? They were literally six feet away from catching them!

"Wha_t_ is _this?"_

Oh.

Oh no...

Piper and London slowly turned around to face 'the Joker'. He was standing in the middle of the hallway, his shoulders hunched forward. He was looking straight passed the girls, glaring from under his brow at the goons. His purple suit looked like it was swallowing him.

"We was- we was jus' gettin'- the girls got out 'n we was-"

"And _how _did they manage to ge_t_ ou_t_, in the first pla_ce-ah?"_

"They was screamin', and Bill wen't ta shut 'em up-"

"Didn't I _tell _you," the Joker was creeping towards them now, "no_t_ to go _in _there?" He had slunk right past the girls, his glowering eyes still focused on the goons. It was like he hadn't even noticed they were there at all. They still didn't dare move an inch.

"Ye-yes boss..." One of them stuttered. The Joker drew out a long, dangerous looking knife from his pocket. It glinted in the low light of the corridor and the goon's eyes widened. It wasn't a second later when the knife was embedded in Bill's skull. The man's eyes rolled back into his head, and his body fell to the ground with a 'thud'. The Joker held down the dead man's neck with his shoe, pulling the knife out of his skull with a sickening 'squelch'. He looked at it for a second, marveling at the dark, wet blood covering the weapon and dripping down his wrist.

"You," He directed his attention to the other goon, whose forehead was dripping with sweat. "Un-_less _you want to end up like, uh..." He prodded Bill's head with his shoe, "_this _one- take them _back_."

"Yes boss,"

"_Now_."

The goon scampered carefully around the Joker and grabbed the girl's elbows, dragging back the way they came. They soon came back to the room they had just escaped from. The goon pushed them in, and was about to close the door when-

"W-wait! We're hungry!" London said, urgently.

"Nothin' I can do about that, girlie."

The goon slammed and locked the door behind him.

They sat down, utterly defeated.

_Three_. They had watched three _people _die today. Three people that probably had families, friends, enemies. Three people dead could affect _so many _lives. So many. Three people, who used to have favorite foods, who liked dogs, maybe cats better. Three people- and they were _dead_. That was three more dead people than either of the girls had seen in their whole life, and probably the rest of it, too. But, the more they thought about it, the longer they stayed here, wherever _here _is, they were going to see _a lot _more of it.

**Guesses as to what might happen next? Suggestions? PM me! Thanks for reading!**


End file.
